History Film / TheGiantGilaMonster

* PoliceAreUseless: The Sheriff doesn't contribute much to finding and defeating the Gila monster - most of the work gets done by Chase and his friends. Justified by the fact that the Sheriff is literally the only cop in town, and one man cannot effectively search ten thousand square miles of wilderness for a car with two missing kids in it and the giant lizard who ate them.

* KarmaHoudini: Chase has been in the habit of stealing parts from wrecked cars to upgrade his own. In the final act, Mr. Wheeler gets proof and decides to force the Sheriff (who was fully aware of this and at one point gave Chase explicit permission to repair a broken headlight on his car with one from a wreck) to arrest him for it. Then Chase's car is destroyed killing the lizard, taking all the evidence with it and ruining the case. On top of that, the Sheriff mentions that the railroad is likely to reward Chase for stopping the lizard with enough to get a new hot rod, so he won't need to commit petty crime to soup up his wheels anymore.* LetsSeeYouDoBetter: After putting up with Mr. Wheeler trying to push him around the entire movie, the Sheriff pulls this on him, announcing that Wheeler has just been deputized and put in charge of the safety of the kids whose party the lizard just crashed. After utterly failing to corral three dozen teenagers, Wheeler gives the badge back to the Sheriff.

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